Safety and efficacy of continuous subcutaneous foslevodopa-foscarbidopa in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease: a randomised, double-blind, active-controlled, phase 3 trial.

Background: Levodopa is the most effective symptomatic therapy for Parkinson's disease, but patients with advanced Parkinson's disease develop motor fluctuations with chronic oral levodopa therapy. Foslevodopa-foscarbidopa is a soluble formulation of levodopa and carbidopa prodrugs that is delivered as a 24-h/day continuous subcutaneous infusion, and we aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of this formulation in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.

Methods: A 12-week randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, active-controlled study was done at 65 academic and community study centres in the USA and Australia.

An approach to acute clinical deterioration in patients with late-stage Parkinson's disease.

Background: Idiopathic Parkinson's disease is a slowly progressive neurodegenerative disease. In the absence of disease-modifying therapies, patients inevitably progress to late-stage disease, characterised by a shift towards increasing disability from predominantly non-motor symptoms, which may be poorly levodopa responsive.

Objective: The aim of this article is to provide general practitioners (GPs) with a practical approach to the diagnosis and management of acute clinical deterioration in patients with late-stage Parkinson's disease.

The initial diagnosis and management of Parkinson's disease.

Background: Parkinson's disease is a common, progressive neurodegenerative disorder, the prevalence of which is on the rise. The diagnosis and management of Parkinson's disease is therefore likely to become increasingly frequent in general practice.

Objective: The aim of this article is to provide a practical overview for the general practitioner of the initial diagnosis and management of Parkinson's disease.

Rest tremor correlates with reduced contralateral striatal dopamine transporter binding in Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: In vivo dopamine transporter imaging is a useful tool for distinguishing nigrostriatal pathologies (e.g. Parkinson's disease) from other causes of tremor.

Updates and advances in the treatment of Parkinson disease.

Parkinson disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder that can present heterogeneously with a combination of motor and non-motor symptoms. α-synuclein, a neuronal protein, can undergo aberrant conformational change resulting in the intra-neuronal accumulation of toxic oligomers that form Lewy bodies, the pathological hallmark of PD. There is evidence that pathological α-synuclein exhibits prion-like behaviour in its mode of transmission through the nervous system.

Drug-induced movement disorders.

Many therapeutic and illicit drugs can cause movement disorders. Antipsychotics and antiemetics are most commonly implicated The time of onset of the movement disorder may be acute, subacute, or chronic. The severity can range from mild to severe and life-threatening Early recognition of a drug-induced movement disorder is essential to allow for prompt intervention.

Clinical significance of pharmacogenomic studies in tardive dyskinesia associated with patients with psychiatric disorders.

Pharmacogenomics is the study of the effects of genetic polymorphisms on medication pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. It offers advantages in predicting drug efficacy and/or toxicity and has already changed clinical practice in many fields of medicine. Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a movement disorder that rarely remits and poses significant social stigma and physical discomfort for the patient.

Active exercise for individuals with cervical dystonia: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of an active exercise program for cervical dystonia.

Design: Pilot randomized controlled, single-blind trial of a 12-week intervention followed by a four-week follow-up period.

Setting: Supervised physiotherapy and outcome measurement sessions were conducted in a hospital outpatient physiotherapy setting.